50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Eight

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth (and probably final) thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2018, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it’s not too late to and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.The lurkers among you are also very welcome to come out of the woodwork and share with us what you've read!

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, the sixth one here and the seventh one here.

How have you got on this year?

Sharp by Michelle Dean, listened to on Audible
Reviewed upthread by FortunaMajor. I was also disappointed in this, though mostly for different reasons, & I've come to the conclusion I'm just not that keen on books of potted mini-biographies. I actually preferred this on the whole to the Jenni Murray book which I found rather superficial, and I did enjoy some sections, particularly the ones on Hannah Arendt, Rebecca West and Norah Ephron. One disappointment was that I'd expected more of an overall thesis to the book, but it didn't really come together, apart from some slightly awkward transitions linking different subjects together and an afterword that felt a bit cobbled on. Overall OK but not great, and not helped at all by the Audible narrator, who was really quite clumsy in places & overall rather monotone.

Oh, and anyone who enjoyed Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky's Dogs of War is in the Kindle sale. Not quite as good as CoT, but still a good read and a bargain at 99p.

Yes Pepe, it really is...I wonder if his editor lacked the confidence to tell him to cut sections from it.

Sally Rooney's wonderful first book Conversations with Friends is just £1.89 on Kindle at the moment.

Sadik I completely agree. I don't think the clumsy links would have felt so bad if she hadn't cued them in the intro, claiming things you wouldn't see if you read about them in isolation. They were tenuous at best and largely clutching at straws.

I know the women included were all scathing critics and that the author is also a critic but for me it all came across as bitchy. It could just be me though. I'm currently reading Mythos and usually love all thing Fry but in this he's coming across as a patronising twonk. It's probably all meant to be gloriously tongue in cheek but I don't like his tone. 15% in and not sure I want to go on.

I saw this on Facebook so it must be true.

55. How To Invent Everything -Ryan North

Been dipping into this over the last few weeks. Working from the premise that if you were a time traveller inadvertently stranded in the past you'd want to reintroduce modern technologies as quickly as possible rather than wait around for them to be invented, Adventure Time creator and comic book writer North has put together an impressive whistle-stop guide to the first principles of human technologies from spoken language, writing, and farming up to computing and flight, taking in brewing, philosophy, medicine, and music along the way. It's funny (I've seen it described as like a pop science book written by Douglas Adams) but also impressively informative.

Just a quick catch up before the year runs out! 66) Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda- good teen fic recommended by Remus I think, but the sequel, Leah on the Offbeat, was disappointing.
67-71), The Ghost Fields, The Chalk Pit, The Woman in Blue, The Dark Angel, all by Elly Griffiths. She has hit her stride here I think with this detective series, I really enjoy it; however I hated first in the historical series she also writes.

72. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Coer. This was outstanding, can’t believe I haven’t read it before. Hard to review without spoilers, but it is and it isn’t about the twin towers. Highly recommend.

73,74) A Clutch of Constables and When in Rome- Ngaio Marsh. I’m still reading these in order and I have Tied Up in Tinsel for my journey today, how serendipitous! (Fingers crosses Gatwick stays open!)
75) One Summer - Bill Bryson. Kind of interesting, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as many others of his. It’s all about one year in the 1920s- flights across the Atlantic, prohibition, and baseball (at least that’s what I remember about one month on!).

Just popping back to say that The Day Of The Jackal and The North Water are 99p each on the Kindle just for today

Bookworm is 99p too. I’ve just started the zigzag girl Tanaqui. Disappointed there’s no women so far except on the table.

I did make the whole blanket Tanaqui. It took about three months and kind of blew a lot of reading out the window.

MegBusset - that Ryan North book sounds a bit like The Knowledge, that I said above I found a bit depressing. Maybe the time travel context rather than the apocalypse context would have suited me better!

Kindle sale is the best for a long while. Absolutely torn about Bookworm! Have wanted to read for ages but pretty sure it was on the list of possibles I gave me DH for Xmas present ideas!!
140.The Mars Room - Rachel Kushner Set in a woman's prison in the US this is every bit as bleak as you would expect. I admired it immensely and agree that is one of the stronger ManBooker nominees I read.
About to start The Overstory . What are my chances of finishing before Xmas Day??

Popping in so I don’t lose you guys. I’m struggling through The Cuckoo’s Calling but hope to finish before Christmas and that’ll be 50. I’ve had to lower my expectations somewhat but glad to make the 50.

I got How Not to Be a Boy and How to be Right in the Kindle sale for a couple of light reads to start the new year. Do I want to read Bookworm? It’s hard when Christmas presents may be coming toomuch I got The Overstory on deal but had to check dh hadn’t already bought it first. Hoping it leaves an opening in his brain for something else!

I also can’t remember what the last book I reviewed was will have to go back and look as think I’m behind.

The Wild Other is 99p as well, I found it a good read and I’m not always drawn into memoirs.

I'm hanging fire on the Kindle sale on the off-chance my H might have bought me an amazon voucher.

51. Comfort and Joy by India Knight. An upper middle class blended family celebrate Christmas together over three consecutive years. The narration is too journalistic, too high energy and a bit gushing. It's also quite sneery towards its sole working class character while trying very much not to be.

I've bought Bookworm hoping it will cure my current reading apathy. Have had to put Too Like the Lightning to one side again. Sorry Sadik I know you loved it but I'm finding it such hard work, my brain is so frazzled it can’t keep track of what the heck is going on.

100. (Hurrah! Goal achieved) A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas Well this was just wonderful. Read it at 4am this morning (see under: frazzled brain) and again later at a decent hour. Gorgeous. Illustrations by Peter Bailey also very lovely. Just wish it had been ten times longer.

Oh I might reread my Dylan and have that be 50 scribbly

200. Mr Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva

A story all about Dickens writing A Christmas Carol. I loved it. Yes it’s sentimental, but it strikes just the right note for a Christmas read. Recommended.

From the Amazon reviews I think Too Like the Lightening is definitely a marmite book Scribbly - and I have to say that although I loved it I can see an awful lot of reasons other people wouldn't.

I'm optimistically hoping for the Lightning sequel for Christmas - dd bought me the first for my birthday, and I notice a book shaped parcel arrived then was spirited away

28: Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Enjoyed this arctic ghost story, but was really put off by the illustrations which made me think I was reading a child's book. Darkly chilling and perfect reading for the time of year.

113 The Five Minute Marriage – Joan Aiken

Another silly Regency romance, but I enjoyed this one much more than the previous one. Jolly good fun, but sadly no monkeys.

Instead we have ten children, Thomas Palgrave, the Marshalsea, a sensible young heroine with skills in the piano and cutting sarcasm, a dying lord and several dashes across the country in carriages.

I'm happy with having hit the 80 mark (though I think I could set my sights on 100 next year ) - however, I have squeezed in an extra:

81: In A House of Lies - Ian Rankin

I'm partial to a bit of Ian Rankin and have read all the Rebus books, although I think he lost his way a bit when Rebus retired and he tried to start a new series with Malcolm Fox from the Complaints, not altogether successfully.

Happily he's realised that Rebus needs to be kept in the picture somehow and this latest book is a satisfyingly twisty plot blending his three main characters, Siobhan Clarke, Rebus and Fox.